CONTENTS
CHAPTER 1 TALK AND SQUAWK
CHAPTER 2 GHOST TOWN
CHAPTER 3 SHIVERY DELIVERY
CHAPTER 4 THAR SHE GLOWS!
CHAPTER 5 HOLE LOT OF CLUE!
CHAPTER 6 FOLLOW THAT BEEP!
CHAPTER 7 YO HO—OH NO!
CHAPTER 8 GOLLY ROGER
CHAPTER 9 ALL HANDS ON DECK!
CHAPTER 10 PIRATES AHOY!
Author the Author
Chapter 1
TALK AND SQUAWK
“Arrgh, you bilge-sucking scalawags!” Chet Morton growled. He lowered his pirate eye patch to give a wink. “All hands on doughnuts!”
Eight-year-old Joe was dressed like a pirate too in a puffy shirt. “How could pirates dig for buried treasure in itchy shirts like this?” he asked.
“It’s Pirate Palooza Day in Bayport, Joe,” Frank said as he straightened his pirate bandanna. “Whoever comes to the festival after school dressed like a pirate—”
“Gets a free doughnut!” Chet said. “Bring it!”
It was Friday and the last day of school before spring break. Many kids dressed in pirate gear walked up and down Bay Street for the Pirate Palooza.
“I wonder what life was like in the days of pirates,” Frank said. “Do you think there were detectives?”
Frank and Joe loved solving mysteries more than anything else. Their dad, Fenton Hardy, had his own detective agency in Bayport. The boys had something just as good: their own clue book, which Joe carried everywhere.
“If there were detectives back then,” Joe said, scratching his itchy arm, “I hope they didn’t dress like pirates!”
The boys checked out the cool festivities. Kids lined up to take pictures in the Pirate Photo Booth. A stand sold Swashbuckling Smoothies.
“I can’t wait to see the Talk Like a Pirate Contest,” Joe said. “I heard the prize is a map leading to a treasure chest buried right here in Bayport.”
“A treas-arrrgh chest filled with doughnuts, I’ll bet!” Chet growled in his best pirate voice. “Arrrgh!”
“Arrrk!” a nearby voice squawked.
“I said arrrgh, not arrrk,” Chet pointed out.
Frank, Joe, and Chet turned to see Jason Wang from school. Jason was dressed like a pirate too, with something extra: his bright red-and-green parrot on his shoulder!
“Arrk!” the parrot squawked again. “Pirates ahoy, pirates ahoy—raaak!”
“Hey!” Frank said with a smile. “It’s Crackers!”
Jason’s pet parrot flapped his feathery wings. He not only talked—he could squawk a whole song after hearing it only once!
“Hi, guys,” Jason greeted the others. “Crackers and I are here for the Talk Like a Pirate Contest.”
“You mean ‘squawk’ like a pirate!” Joe laughed.
“Can we get our freebies already? Please?” Chet said impatiently.
“Onward, buccaneers,” Joe declared, “to Double Doughnuts!”
But before the boys could head to the doughnut shop, four other kids walked over. Frank recognized Tobias Singh from another fourth-grade class.
“What’s up, Tobias?” Frank said. He nodded at the red caps Tobias and his friends were wearing. “Those don’t look like pirate hats.”
“Yeah,” Chet agreed. “Don’t you guys want free doughnuts?”
Tobias pointed to the words on their matching red T-shirts: JUNIOR DIGGERS OF BAYPORT. “We’re not here for the Pirate Palooza,” he explained, his face serious. “We’re here on business.”
“ ‘Junior Diggers,’ ” Chet read. “Isn’t that the new snarky-ology club?”
“Archeology!” Tobias corrected.
Third grader Ava Carter explained, “We meet every week in Tobias’s attic clubhouse. We then head out to dig up ancient relics in Bayport.”
“Have you actually dug up old stuff in Bayport?” Joe asked. “Really, really old stuff?”
“Are you kidding me?” Tobias exclaimed. “We have a treasure chest in our clubhouse full of coins!”
“And an Egyptian mummy!” fourth grader Mikey Velasquez added.
“A mummy?” Chet repeated. “How do you find these things?”
“We know exactly where to dig,” Tobias said. “Which is why we want to dig in Jason’s backyard next.”
“Wait a minute,” Jason said, blinking with surprise. “Why my backyard?”
“Because centuries ago pirates sailed into Bayport,” Tobias explained. “Once here, they would stay at the Peg-Leg Inn.”
“Your house was built where the Peg-Leg Inn used to stand,” third grader Lily Boyd said excitedly. “Think of all the pirate treasure we can dig up in your yard, Jason!”
Jason shook his head. “It’s never going to happen.”
“Why not?” Tobias asked.
“My parents are neat freaks when it comes to our lawns,” Jason explained. “My mom won’t even let me dig for worms for Crackers.”
“Bummer, bummer,” Crackers screeched. “Raaak!”
“Besides,” Jason said, “I never found any pirate stuff around my house anyway.”
“How do we know for sure there even was a Peg-Leg Inn?” Joe asked.
“Well, no one knows for sure, but that rumor has been around for a long time. Maybe the pirates stayed at the Bayport Motel instead,” Chet said. “At least the motel has a pool and Wi-Fi!”
“So the answer is no?” Tobias asked Jason.
“Sorry,” Jason said.
“Yeah, sure, you are,” Tobias muttered before leading the other club members away. A few glanced over their shoulders to frown at Jason.
“Definitely not happy campers,” Jason sighed.
“You mean diggers,” Joe said.
Suddenly—
“Raaaak!” Crackers screeched. He spread his feathery wings and took off!
“Crackers!” Jason cried as his parrot flapped away. “Get back here—now!”
The boys ran in Crackers’s direction, but the parrot disappeared into the crowd.
“Where’d he go?” Frank asked.
“Back off, birdie!!” a girl’s angry voice shouted from the crowd. “I said vamoose, pellet breath!”
Frank, Joe, Chet, and Jason followed the voice through the crowd until they saw Crackers. The parrot hovered in midair above a frantic girl.
“That’s Reilly Voorhees from school!” Joe said.
“She’s the star of all the class plays,” Frank added.
Reilly dressed like a star too. Today she wore a sparkly silver-and-red pirate costume with glittery silver tap shoes.
“Crackers!” Jason yelled. He held out his arm.
“It’s okay, Reilly,” Joe said as Crackers landed on Jason’s arm. “Jason told us that parrots like shiny things.”
“Crackers and I are in the Talk Like a Pirate Contest,” Jason added as Crackers preened on his arm. “Pretty cool, huh?”
“Not cool!” Reilly snapped. “I’ll bet pets aren’t allowed in the contest because they would steal the show!”
“I guess that’s up to the judge to decide,” Frank said with a shrug.
“And that, laddie,” a deep, gravelly voice piped up, “would be your-rrrrrghs truly!”
Who’d said that? The kids turned and gasped. Standing behind them was a stubbly-bearded pirate. On his head was a pirate hat. Over one eye
